Ep.188: Wanda James & Joe Brezny

Ep.188: Wanda James & Joe Brezny

Joe Brezny of Nevada Question 2 joins us to discuss the initiative. He outlines how the current medical program is going and how that affects the coming potential adult use legislation. Joe shares the current polling numbers and the fact that it’s a little too close for comfort as we speak. THE Wanda James then joins us and shares her unique background. We thank her for her Naval intelligence service for our country…and then dive into her thoughts on why oh so many folks in the space have served our country. She shares her work in politics with the likes of Jared Polis and Barack Obama and how that all led to her her current place in cannabis.

Transcript:

Speaker 2: Wanda, James and Joe Brezhnev, Joe Brezhnev, Nevada question to joins us to discuss the initiative. He outlines how the current medical program is going and how that affects the company potential. Doc Use legislation. Joe Shares the current polling numbers and the fact that it's a little too close for comfort as we speak. The Wanda James then joins us and shares her unique background. We thank her for her navel intelligence service for our country and then dive into her thoughts on why so many folks in the space have served our country. She shares her work in politics with the likes of Jared Polis and Barack Obama, and how all that led to her current place in cannabis. Welcome to cannabis economy. I'm your host Seth Adler. Check us out on social with the handle can economy. That's two ends in the word economy. Wanda James proceeded by Joe Bresciani.

Speaker 1: Okay. So, uh, it's Nevada, uh, that we're discussing with the job as a leslie box score calls you, right? I mean, a job resume. Thanks so much for a few minutes. Yeah,

Speaker 3: great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1: All right. So just a kind of outline what your position is, uh, so that we understand who we're talking to.

Speaker 3: Sure. Uh, I'm the spokesperson for the coalition to regulate marijuana like alcohol, which has become the Yes on question two campaign and we've got a, the same style of retail marijuana sales for anyone over 21 on the ballot and Nevada as they currently have as policy in Colorado. So I'm the spokesperson for the, the, uh, regulation of marijuana campaign.

Speaker 1: Awesome. And, uh, thanks for, for your work. Let's go ahead and, and get the obvious out of the way. We had an amendment in Colorado. We had an initiative in Washington. We've got a proper, uh, you know, proposition in California. A question two, what are we actually talking about?

Speaker 3: So, question to regulate the sale of up to an ounce of marijuana for adults over 21. Uh, so essentially the same system that they have in Colorado, a 15 percent excise tax behind the scenes, so similar taxation structure to Colorado. Um, there's a limited number of dispensary licenses, which is one mark difference between Colorado and Nevada and that's not really not really surprising. That's more of a, uh, the gaming model. Uh, we don't have an unlimited number of casino licenses. You can't just walk in and open up a new one and so they're going to have a limited number of a dispensary licenses, but then they let them market shake itself out with a grow licenses and extraction licenses.

Speaker 1: Okay, fantastic. And how does that measure up, if you will, against the medical program which is currently active?

Speaker 3: Uh, the medical, like Colorado, the medical program will be the first to market in the retail program. So we're taking the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in Nevada and doubling it. So you'll go from a 68 to about 130 a retail marijuana stores in the state. Um, so about half as many as there are in Denver. Uh, and we think that with the, both the tourist population and the local population, that'll be enough because we're, our state is about half the size of Colorado

Speaker 1: is tourism, you know, with your, uh, a reciprocation and thanks for that idea of working out as far as, you know, locals versus tourists and a cannabis purchased.

Speaker 3: Yeah, as you would expect the, there are, there are a handful of marijuana dispensaries in the corners of the Las Vegas Valley and away from the Strip and away from the tourist corridor and they see maybe 20 to 30 percent of their sales on a reciprocal basis to people who have, uh, who are away at college and have an id from California and they're home for summer break or something along those lines. Or someone from medical state who's staying in the suburbs with family. Um, that's the reciprocal traffic we see. And those are the folks that are very vocal about how happy they are about the reciprocal arrangement. Because if you've got A. I heard from a Vietnam vet, from the Midwest, guy from Ohio who is here. And he said, you know, I, I am waiting for us to get our doctor's recommendations because I don't have access and I don't want to break the rules and I don't want it.

Speaker 2: Wanda, James and Joe Brezhnev, Joe Brezhnev, Nevada question to joins us to discuss the initiative. He outlines how the current medical program is going and how that affects the company potential. Doc Use legislation. Joe Shares the current polling numbers and the fact that it's a little too close for comfort as we speak. The Wanda James then joins us and shares her unique background. We thank her for her navel intelligence service for our country and then dive into her thoughts on why so many folks in the space have served our country. She shares her work in politics with the likes of Jared Polis and Barack Obama, and how all that led to her current place in cannabis. Welcome to cannabis economy. I'm your host Seth Adler. Check us out on social with the handle can economy. That's two ends in the word economy. Wanda James proceeded by Joe Bresciani.

Speaker 1: Okay. So, uh, it's Nevada, uh, that we're discussing with the job as a leslie box score calls you, right? I mean, a job resume. Thanks so much for a few minutes. Yeah,

Speaker 3: great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1: All right. So just a kind of outline what your position is, uh, so that we understand who we're talking to.

Speaker 3: Sure. Uh, I'm the spokesperson for the coalition to regulate marijuana like alcohol, which has become the Yes on question two campaign and we've got a, the same style of retail marijuana sales for anyone over 21 on the ballot and Nevada as they currently have as policy in Colorado. So I'm the spokesperson for the, the, uh, regulation of marijuana campaign.

Speaker 1: Awesome. And, uh, thanks for, for your work. Let's go ahead and, and get the obvious out of the way. We had an amendment in Colorado. We had an initiative in Washington. We've got a proper, uh, you know, proposition in California. A question two, what are we actually talking about?

Speaker 3: So, question to regulate the sale of up to an ounce of marijuana for adults over 21. Uh, so essentially the same system that they have in Colorado, a 15 percent excise tax behind the scenes, so similar taxation structure to Colorado. Um, there's a limited number of dispensary licenses, which is one mark difference between Colorado and Nevada and that's not really not really surprising. That's more of a, uh, the gaming model. Uh, we don't have an unlimited number of casino licenses. You can't just walk in and open up a new one and so they're going to have a limited number of a dispensary licenses, but then they let them market shake itself out with a grow licenses and extraction licenses.

Speaker 1: Okay, fantastic. And how does that measure up, if you will, against the medical program which is currently active?

Speaker 3: Uh, the medical, like Colorado, the medical program will be the first to market in the retail program. So we're taking the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in Nevada and doubling it. So you'll go from a 68 to about 130 a retail marijuana stores in the state. Um, so about half as many as there are in Denver. Uh, and we think that with the, both the tourist population and the local population, that'll be enough because we're, our state is about half the size of Colorado

Speaker 1: is tourism, you know, with your, uh, a reciprocation and thanks for that idea of working out as far as, you know, locals versus tourists and a cannabis purchased.

Speaker 3: Yeah, as you would expect the, there are, there are a handful of marijuana dispensaries in the corners of the Las Vegas Valley and away from the Strip and away from the tourist corridor and they see maybe 20 to 30 percent of their sales on a reciprocal basis to people who have, uh, who are away at college and have an id from California and they're home for summer break or something along those lines. Or someone from medical state who's staying in the suburbs with family. Um, that's the reciprocal traffic we see. And those are the folks that are very vocal about how happy they are about the reciprocal arrangement. Because if you've got A. I heard from a Vietnam vet, from the Midwest, guy from Ohio who is here. And he said, you know, I, I am waiting for us to get our doctor's recommendations because I don't have access and I don't want to break the rules and I don't want it.

Speaker 3: So that's the exact scenario. Someone from illegal state who has a, who has a doctor's recommendation or a state card, they don't have to worry about transportation from the Midwest to here. Uh, and then as you move closer to the resort corridor in the Las Vegas Strip, you have people you have a dispensary, is that have more than half of their sales are reciprocal sales. We have some folks that are consistently around 60 percent, almost two thirds of the folks coming through the door or people who are here for whatever reason, for work or pleasure or vacation or what have you. And they don't have to break the rules and carry it across state lines. They can obtain them locally working out really well.

Speaker 1: Excellent. You took us through the basics on licenses. Take us through the basics on, okay, it's legalized. We're taxing it. Here's where the tax revenue goes.

Speaker 3: Okay. We had a, we had an economic study done by a group called RCG economics. They're, uh, they're not a marijuana from there, just an economics from eight phds on this. And we told them to use very conservative models, uh, so that everyone who investigated it would have to grudgingly admit that the numbers were solid and that's what's happened and what they, what they came up with was a, this will, if question two were to pass 29 days from now, we would have a one point $1,000,000,000 annual market. The economic impact would be a billion dollars when you take into account all of the sales, the ancillary businesses, it would create 6,000 new jobs directly in the industry. It would create $60,000,000 in tax revenue directly from that 15 percent excise tax. And that doesn't count the, the $8,000,000 that you have a in the licensing fee is.

Speaker 3: And then also the normal sales tax that will be charged on the marijuana sales as well. So, um, but just from the 15 percent excise tax, there'll be $60,000,000 annually produced there. Uh, they estimate that of that $60 million, $40 million of that will go to administering the program. Uh, so you'll have all of the state applications, all of the staff hours that go to that, um, the department of Taxation employees that they'll add to regulate this at the state level, um, that will be covered. Uh, the education for law enforcement education for the, um, the education community is telling them a what's in the stores and how to keep it out of the schools. All of those programs are covered under that $40,000,000 and then that'll leave a net of about $20,000,000 directly for the distributive school account. So they're estimating that right off the bat there'll be a $20 million dollar net, uh, to the schools. Um, and uh, just from that 15 percent excise tax,

Speaker 1: well that sounds pretty good, uh, to, to, to, uh, to begin with, um, you know, uh, it's, it's kind of Nice to have those numbers right from the jump, um, as far as whether this is going to happen or not. Let's talk about that. What, uh, what is polling looking like as we speak?

Speaker 3: We've had some polls the last few weeks that are all over the place. We had one high, one low and one middle. Middle is the accurate, one of the big elephant in the room also for a first state like Nevada, you know, we've got three and a half million people, 4 million people in the whole state. And so we are like one less than attempt to size of California. So California is pulling it 60 to 64 percent right now. And it's not a targeted presidential, it's not targeted. And a lot of the ways that that ad is targeted, uh, we have a targeted presidential race. We haven't targeted US Senate race, um, all that are within five points. So, um, so that leads me to believe that California is pretty safe. That's to pass because it's polling so well and there aren't as many outside external factors affecting it. There was a suffolk university poll that showed a that it was 57 on the pro side and 33 against a.

Speaker 3: But when you take a look at the question that they asked, it was essentially the balance statement that our side uses. So it said all of the positive arguments for passing this and no arguments against it. So that was, that was a skewed poll and then the Las Vegas Review Journal, which is owned by someone, it's owned by someone who is not on our side. They found a poll that showed that we were only up by two points of that pole, used three on three voters for the sample. So you have to have had voted and all three of the last three polls we've been doing some tracking polls that have been pretty consistent in the nine point range that they've showed us around 50 percent are for this 41 percent are against it. And we've got that nine point lead at nine points undecided. So, um, that, that seems to be about where things are starting as this end game kicks in.

Speaker 3: We have not seen any polling since both of us who went on television a week ago. So that's a, I think we're starting at around a nine point up range, but valid initiatives in Nevada naturally close as it gets closer to the election. So I think it's going to be close. I think we're doing okay. Uh, but I think it's going to be close. You definitely cannot stay home this year and say that this is going to legalize itself because it will not match so that if our folks show up, I think we're going to have a win. Um, but our folks have got to show up.

Speaker 1: Okay. And so, you know, for those living in Nevada, that's easy to do. Wake up, go vote for those. Not In Nevada. Uh, you know, we can help from a distance. What's the, what's the website maybe where we can contribute,

Speaker 3: have you go to regulate marijuana like Nevada, a.com that will take you to our website where you can contribute, you can get email updates as to what we're doing. Um, you can give us feedback. So, and you can see what the issues are that are specific in Nevada and how we've addressed them.

Speaker 1: Well, let's take those off just real quick at a top level, what, uh, what are you talking about from your side?

Speaker 3: The first thing is that a marijuana prohibition is, has been a really expensive failure. Uh, and then we start going into the reasons for that. Uh, the fact that this is less harmful than alcohol. It's less addictive. It's less harmful to the body. It's less likely to be associated with violent behavior. And so the premise for our campaign is if we saw the marijuana prohibition has been a failure for 45 years because we haven't driven down the desire for marijuana, we haven't driven up the price of marijuana and we haven't been able to eliminate the supply of marijuana. All of things that you would consider a success if you were to run a war to prohibit a plant. Um, since that's been a failure all around. And we also thought that alcohol prohibition failed. Um, this is just a better way, a better way to reallocate police resources in Nevada.

Speaker 3: It's a way to produce tax revenue instead of spending taxes chasing our tails on this, this failed a prohibition. And then also, this is something where the current system, I mean Nevada, uh, used to be where you simple possession was a felony, now they've made it to where simple possession is $100 citation. But try getting into law school with that citation, try getting into a police academy to be a peace officer or, or being able to go into the army special forces when you have a marijuana citations on your effort, it's not going to happen. And so there's an inherent unfairness with the fact that we take a substance that is less harmful than alcohol and we treated it in this special criminal class. And, and when you look at the reason why the numbers. So ally, this is about money for the other side.

Speaker 3: Eighty percent of the drug enforcement budget has spent policing marijuana even though it killed zero people last year from an overdose zero the year before that, zero the year before that. And yet we've got heroin epidemic that is out of control. And you have a prescription drug epidemic that is feeding the heroin epidemic. The prescription drug opiate issue, a load killed 47,000 people last year with marijuana killed zero. So we have a great story to sell when we shine a light on the fact that there are policy doesn't make any sense, but when they spend 80 percent of their budget and they get 80 percent of their money to fight marijuana, they fight tooth and nail to keep that money. So that's what we're running into now is they're fighting tooth and nail.

Speaker 1: Well, you know, all we can do is support you. It sounds like you've got the right voice behind what you're doing. And by that voice, I mean you what? How do we have you as the voice? What's, uh, what's your background real quick, just because you and I haven't really talked too much

Speaker 3: surprising. I was Mitt Romney's state director in Nevada in 2008. I was chief of staff for the Nevada state Senate Majority Leader and Republican for 10 years. So I worked in the Nevada legislature and I got, I got caught by a security person smoking a joint in my hotel room in Elko, Nevada in 2008 when I was Mitt Romney's director. I was doing advanced work ahead of his visit. He wasn't in town yet, but if he was coming and I think I told me, he said, you know, I'm not going to turn you in, but imagine that headlight if I did, you'd lose your career. And you know, it really, it shook me up and it stuck with me that just because I choose something safer, I choose something that is calming rather than something that's associated with the biologic behavior, just because that's my choice. I could lose my career and I'm good at what I do.

Speaker 3: And so it frustrated me. And so I contacted another person in my line of work, uh, a gentleman named Neil Levine, a who has won more marijuana campaigns than any single person in the country. Uh, and Neil and I started the project and started the ballot committee. So it was two guys, one guy from the left, one guy from the right, neil happen to have a ton of marijuana experience that lived in Nevada at the time and we just started out of nowhere and I became the spokesperson because we couldn't afford to pay anybody a riff that it's been because a couple of people said, we know how to do this and this is wrong and we're going to organize the community to change it. And then marijuana policy project, Rob Kampia came in, uh, they funded a quarter of a million dollars toward the signature drive for us, so about a third of the signature drive. And they've been a great help ever since with a, with a subject matter expertise in fundraising. Help.

Speaker 1: Yeah. No absolute subject matter in fundraising. That's rob Kampia name's hyphenated. My, that's one of my favorite things about the cannabis industry is we've got everybody and uh, you know, everyone knows whether you're a republican or a Democrat, cannabis gets more votes than you, you know, no matter who y'all. Alright, good joe. So, um, you know, uh, have a good few weeks here. Uh, let us know if anything crazy happens, but I'm sure we'll read about it. If it does, uh, in the meantime, let's do that website one more time.

Speaker 3: Oh, regulate marijuana. B Dot.

Speaker 1: All right.

Speaker 3: And, uh, I will be there, uh, you know, uh, when everybody else's is in about a month and uh, hopefully we'll be able to celebrate. How about that? That sounds great. I will see you then. Thank you so much for having me on.

Speaker 1: You got a job resume. I have one last question. One final question for you on the soundtrack of your life named one track, one song that's got to be on there.

Speaker 3: Oh my goodness. I've never been asked that before.

Speaker 1: I promise. I promise to always ask whenever you're on here, how about that?

Speaker 3: The one that's coming to mind, it's going to be stuck in your head the rest of the day. I feel very lucky to be doing this. I feel very lucky to have the job. I have. I feel very lucky to have the life I have. So, um, the theme to the greatest American hero that, believe it or not be on the soundtrack as I get, I get to help and marijuana prohibition, it's a, it's a real honor to do it. And, uh, and it feels like I'm living a charmed life by being able to do that.

Speaker 1: For those of you over 35, it's already playing in your head. For those of you under 35, look it up on Youtube. It's ridiculous. Joe Breschi. Thank you so much.

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Speaker 4: much louder than whoever I'm talking to. I don't know why that would be. Maybe the New York, it can be the New York, maybe the Judaism. It could be that, you know what I mean? I don't know what it is. Both of those together, those together. Yeah. Those are either of those things in terms of trying to be a, you know, not loud. That's not. Doesn't work. No. Alright. So, uh, so the wanted James. Oh my goodness. I mean I've been in Colorado more than I can count on any appendage, any group of appendages. I mean Hanson field, just throwing all kinds of places were good, but it takes you and I are in La as we speak. Wonder, how do you like la? What do you think? I love Los Angeles. I spent 17 years of my life here and I just love La Right now. Which 17 was that? In other words? The beginning. The middle, the middle 20. Six to 40. All right. Twenty six to 40. You were in la, are you a Colorado girl or did you find color? A somewhat. My Dad was military, so I went to junior high and high school

Speaker 5: and college and in Colorado. All right, so that is a familiar. Exactly place. Exactly a familiar place you just shared with me that you work for Congressman Polis. We just had him on a lot of him. He's a, he's a very nice man. Very busy. Yes. We didn't have too much time. I believe that he's the congress. It's a congressman. I mean, come on who actually works? Who actually does the work of the people. That's kind of crazy. He was, he had was just at a meeting. He came to me and that was a meeting and then he was going to another meeting. Yeah, that's jared. Yeah. Yeah. So how did you get to know him? I've known jared since about 2004. Um, when they did the big takeover, I mean, Colorado becoming a purple state did not happen by accident. So what do you mean?

Speaker 5: Jared was part of what we affectionately call the four horsemen back in the day. And that was what bridges Jared Polis. I'm a role model. No, I'm right. I said about bridges, Tim Gill, and I'm pat striker, so those four millionaires and billionaires put up a lot of money to be able to put into effect a way of making Colorado more blue and they did it through a series of going after low hanging fruit and elections, um, to a messaging and a whole number of things that they put into, into play to make that happen. Colorado though, I mean, I, I feel like they must have done their research because when I go there it feels purple, you know, it feels like it does, doesn't it? Libertarian. Yep. You know, these are not yet left wing guys and gals. These are. No, no, not at all. Not at all.

Speaker 5: We don't like the and told what to do. No, exactly. Like, get off my lawn. Exactly. Exactly. So, um, so your, your dad was in the military. What was that like? Which, which, uh, which the air force, um, you know, everybody asks that question to kids that grow up in the military, but to a child, you know, your norm is your norm. Right? So all of us in the military moved every three years. Your best friend was always coming or going, you know, so it was just what we did and it wasn't weird at all. It's just what you did. Moodle. Uh, thank you, uh, to your father for his service. Thank you. Uh, what, what did your mom do? My mom was A. Well, my dad was, my parents were divorced when I was nine. My Dad was a single parent who raised me by himself.

Speaker 5: Oh Wow. All right. Yeah. So that's not. This guy is both bad ass. He is. And also a subtle. He would have to be subtle to, to raise a young woman. There was nothing subtle about my father. He was six foot four black Texas cowboy that gave me all the balls and gumption that I could possibly use it. So there we go. That says it all. Where did you then, where did you learn nuances, I guess, you know what I mean, like where's the softer side of Wanda from? Do I have one of those? Well, I mean, you know, your, how can I put this? Yes, you do.

Speaker 6: Yeah, no, I mean you're not just a

Speaker 5: total ball buster and terrible people love two James. So there's got to be a softer side in there, you know, it can be a nice person and get, you know, get work done, you know, at the same time, you know, it's, you know, it's. And that was a former military officer as well too. So the military teaches you, you went into the military? I did. All right. So where were you at the end of high school when you went into the military? What, what state was it? No, I went, well I went to college so I graduated from university, Colorado. Um, I was rotc in rotc at the University of Colorado and from there went into the military and uh, air force as well, or maybe a hot. Why did we choose navy and not air force because my dad was in the air force and you have to be controversial and not do what your parents want you to do.

Speaker 5: So I'm going to be in the service but I'm not gonna not gonna do it your way. And so what was the goal there? Where were we going to be? What were we thinking as far as navy? Uh, I thought I was going to be a pilot that didn't work out for me quite the way I wanted to. So I ended up being a naval intelligence officer. I wasn't what they call an iuss officer. We were sub hunters, so we took care of all the things that run to the water that you can't see. So thank you for your service. It is shocking to me, yes, a lot in Colorado, but in the industry wide, how many folks have been in the military? Exactly. It's amazing, isn't it? It really is. It's shocking, isn't it? What? What is it about these two areas that are the same?

Speaker 5: Why are we attracting so many folks that have been in the military? I'm a, I think a lot of the veterans that we see in a lot of folks that are involved are involved because their patients, a lot of them are dealing with ptsd. Some of them are dealing with war time injuries, which can be from, you know, the minor to, you know, painful knees and joints to, you know, shrapnel still left in your body from, you know, explosions and, and different things. So a lot of our patients, uh, and especially in Colorado since it's a place where a lot of people retire, um, you know, or, or, or our process through because of all the bases we have in Colorado, there's just a lot of veterans involved and I think that that's, they're seeing this as a much better way of working through their issues.

Speaker 5: Be the mental or physical then a bunch of opiates in a, in a bottle, making you a crazy person. Yeah, it is. And you have to have at least one conversation if not to, um, with veterans to really understand. Exactly, you know, the, the, the conversations that I've had, are it, it almost feels like they're shedding skin by tay by removing the opiates from their system and adding cannabis and then they become, it's, it's, it's almost like they're back to being who they were exactly where the service. Exactly. It's amazing, it's absolutely amazing and it's so amazing to me that the va is fighting these guys siting that we just don't know how it's going to effect the veterans over time. Well, I think war kind of affects human beings in a really negative way. So if we're okay with sending them the war, we should be perfectly fine given them a joint. It's ridiculous. It is a, when you say it that way and with military service under your belt, it's

Speaker 4: ridiculous. Ridiculous. Agreed on that, that that's the patients of course. But I mean the operators, I mean there are a ton of operators that are just, you know, that have service in the background, Navy, air force, whatever it is. What do you think it is about operating in the cannabis industry? It's federally illegal. Uh, you know, uh, yeah, someone should have told you this is my boundary would be late to the game. Yes, it is. It's still federally illegal. I feel like I should have told you before we turned the mic on, but uh, yeah, but we'll get through that. But what I mean is it the adventure? Is it the fact that you have to be nimble, is it, you know, I don't mean to put words in your mouth, but because it is the percentage of people that I've interviewed that have military service is, is just, it's astronomical compared to the number of people that I know that are in the military. Do you see what I'm saying as far as the, that are in this industry comparatively? Exactly. You know, I think it's a lot of them

Speaker 5: reasons. I think it's being a military member, you know, you, you tend to be a little bit tougher. You tend to be able to take, you know, the negativity that people want to put on you when they find out that you're a, you know, a cannabis dispensary owner. Yeah. Um, but by the same token, I think people go into the military, well, I can't speak for everybody, but you know, you kind of go into it to kind of fix the world, to heal the world, to be a part of a change, you know, to make something better. And for me, my lifelong goals have always been to make something better. And to challenge the status quo when the status quo was wrong and clearly, you know, we are on the right side of this, you know, everything that's happening with it is just wrong. So for me, I feel embolden when I get to talk about cannabis and to be an owner and I kind of use that a lot of times they'll put it in people's face, you know, in the government space.

Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah. I own a dispensary. I'm a black woman. I'm a vet. What'd you got to say? You know what I mean? It's kind of, dare you. I double dog dare you say something, say something stupid. You know what I mean? It's so you kind of get that kind of a feeling. And I think to be a dispensary owner, you've got to be strong to be able to stand up because you're gonna get issues from clergy. Your parents, you know, your high school teacher is, you know, people who knew you when you know and we didn't know you get high and you know all that kind of stuff. So you've got to be tough.

Speaker 4: I want to come back to that because there's a lot to uncover as far as that is concerned in general community and their reactions. I want to talk about your service if you don't mind. Sure. Intelligence officer. I mean, what kind of stuff were you doing? You know, finding things that we can't see in the. Tell me everything that you can tell me without giving up any, any, uh, any snowden's. Well, I mean the good thing is a long time ago, I think most of the things we've done had been declassified, but if you ever saw a hunt for Red October, sure. That's what we did get out. I even played the board game. Ooh, Alec Baldwin. If we're keeping score.

Speaker 5: So that's exactly what you were doing. Exactly what we did. So. And you were in submarines or outside of stuff now. So it's really, it's really funny to being a woman of a certain age. It's weird when I was in the military, women could not be in combat situations even though we were. So we did things, um, we worked with the p three squadrons, the squadrons or large airplanes that fly low over the water and they pick up a, well, they picked up a lot of things and then there's also a tracking on the, on the base of the, of the ocean that picks up a frequency is that things that go over it so we can pick up everything from Wales to submarines to ships to aircraft. Um, so whatever's in the water, we can track it. So you can tell what we call it, the boat, the submarine or Russian subs at the time, or French subs or anybody subs.

Speaker 5: They lead a signature and every submarine has a very unique signature. So when we pick up the signature, we can tell you what the sub is, what the argument is. We can probably even tied to figure out what the mission is of the sub depending on who the captain is onboard. And there's lots of information you can pick up from a signature. So if there's no way we're going to be able to answer this question actually, but how can you understand what the mission is simply by that, you know, simple type of submarine that's out there, a long range, short range, what? It's what, it's what it's armed with. You can deduce basically. Exactly. It would be Xyz. Exactly. Probably why is that? Because of exactly. And we've been watching them for so long so we know what type of submarines go out on different types of missions and what they're following.

Speaker 5: Sometimes they're following some of our aircraft carriers or different things or different things that they're, they're up to in the water and you know, you get to know what the game is after awhile and you're like, oh here they go again. What was the game? I mean it was that this was the cold war. So I mean it was, you know, it was really kind of a cat and dog kind of a thing. Like, you know, they'll stick their thumb over the line and you know, we'll put our foot over the line. It's that back and forth thing that was going on during the Cold War. So then now two things and we can stop talking about this, but I like to take this opportunity when I have a veteran in front of me. And so the Russia plane thing just happened and that it seems, seems like they're doing what you are describing. Exactly. So it's everyday. So that happens every day. Why did I hear about this one? You know what I mean? This is Russia, the plane, kind of a flying way too close to our American planes and as Donald and Putin are in love with each other and we now are focused back on the ideal of what Russia is going to do again. So now you brought it up to know what is going on.

Speaker 5: Tell me what your thoughts are on um, you know, a, a presidential candidate asking for a foreign, you know, a, a country that is not us to spy on us as, as a veteran in intelligence. What's that about? Um, what he did. It's very clear. I'm not an attorney, but you can definitely look at it. What he did was he committed an act of treason, to be honest with you, he should be under arrest right now and he should not be able to run for president. I mean asking, asking a foreign government and especially Russia of all governments, um, to look into emails and we hope that they get those emails. I mean, it's clearly an act of treason. Treason is very clear, you know, giving comfort to the enemy and that's exactly what he did. What, what if it was being sarcastic, then he's an idiot and shouldn't be the president.

Speaker 5: So it's pretty straightforward. Yeah, he's an idiot. He's an idiot. And to be the president, it's pretty if want, if you don't mind, pretty black and white. It's pretty black and white right now. It really is. It's, it's a weird place right now. And uh, you know, outside of ideology, you know, whether you're Democrat or Republican, you know, I definitely get the differences and all that is fine. But allowing a man with that kind of a temperature gauge and inability to calm himself is not what you want at the helm of a great nation. Okay. And that's speaking as a former intelligence officer. Exactly. And the generals have all said the same thing, right? I mean, he's even put a few things out there, you know, saying that he would order the commanders to do or the generals to do x, Y, z without understanding that you can't order the military to do something illegal.

Speaker 5: And our military being the good one that we are will not take any legal order. So it's pretty terrifying that this man is as close to the White House as he is. Well then let's talk about a more positive politics. Let's go back to you finding a jared Polis and then realizing that you were going to actually work for them. You're, you're an intelligence officer. What's an intelligence officer doing? Working with a politician that would be congressman in Colorado? Um, well I've been in politics for about 20 years. So I started in California. As a matter of fact, I actually ran for Congress here in Los Angeles. How you do? Oh, I lost miserably. I was all of 32 years old and had the world by the hole is. And just knew that we were gonna show the old dogs. It's something new. And let me take this tangent.

Speaker 5: How young is 32? Explain why 32 is young. Uh, because I'm a lot older than 32 by deaf. And by the way that you're saying that you have to be older than exactly. If I love that, that's all we can say about age. But what I'm saying is in other, I'm 40. Right? And so when I think about 32, I think about it differently than when I was 20. Exactly. So explain to folks what 32 is. Where are you on the path for me at 32? I'm gotten out of the military four years earlier, was making a market in corporate America, was here in La. My friends were, you know, young, black and educated. Um, and you know, we had the world, you know, by the oysters, you know, we, we thought we knew all the things that we wanted to do and when our congressmen passed away, you know, we.

Speaker 5: And there was a group of us decided to run for this seat because we wanted to see, even back then before the whole marijuana piece, everything else, you know, politics and we wanted to see a younger, uh, view of the world, you know, and so we said, let's run for the seat. And it was eyeopening. It was amazing. And it was the closest at that point that I had ever come to, you know, being a part of the political system. And it was where I learned, um, well, what did you learn? What did you get wrong? You know what I mean? What didn't you have? What didn't, you know, what, why was, what your answer to that, of course is everything. Everything. But specifically, in other words, during the run, what were the big lessons? I didn't understand the influence of money and how important early money is because you got a lot that you've got to get done because a lot of people you've got to hire, there's a lot of messaging that you've got to be able to have out there.

Speaker 5: There's a lot of people that you've got to reach. Um, and then the biggest thing, and this is the issue with Donald trump as well too, is you have to put in the time before you run, people need to know who you are before you announced that you want their vote. Sure. And this is why I think when people say, well, why is Hillary do so well with African Americans when obviously they had a huge issue in, in the nineties with, um, uh, well at the time building his statement, right? It's because Hillary has been running in the south amongst black people since she was the governor's wife and Arkansas. We know her, you know what I mean? And, and whether you like or don't like or whatever, we know who she is. So there was a comfort level there. So now that she's running, yes, we're backing her because we don't know who donald is, nor do we care, but as a whole different conversation.

Speaker 5: But you know, this is the big thing with politics. You know, you've got to plan early, you've got to be out there amongst the people who you want to elect you. You've got to know what their concerns are, not just on the surface at some consultant tells you, but you've got to be able to go into that community and you know, when Bill Clinton, you know, famous line, I feel your pain, you know, he was talking deeply to saying, you know, I understand what you go through on a day, a daily basis, whether he does or not, who knows, but that's what we heard. Right. So I went for a job at the Apollo. I did not get the job, but I saw in the office of the Apollo a, a, a, a, a proclamation that stated, now this back in the nineties, obviously before we actually had one that Bill Clinton was the first black president.

Speaker 5: Yep, Yup. You feel that? Oh, well, I mean, and that, that's been ongoing for a long time. And you know, and it's really funny when I talked to a lot of young people about Bernie Sanders and they're all wound up about Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton was our Bernie Sanders. I mean, if you go back to the 19 nineties, I mean when Bill Clinton came on the Arsenio Hall show and played the saxophone, no president has ever done anything like that. Presidents were always starched and stiff and typed up and got their tie on and they never went on late night shows and you gotta remember too, even the Arsenio Hall show back then was legendary because it was just Johnny Carson and Johnny Carson had old white actors on there. Nobody was talking to the hip, young actors that were coming up or the acts and the music that we were listening to, you know, prince and you know, all of those folks.

Speaker 5: So it was all just, wow, Bill Clinton's plan is acts of bone. I now believe it and it, it changed us on what was a huge show at that moment. Exactly. Absolutely. Exactly. So flash forward then. Yup. Now you find a guy, you got a little bit of money behind you. You got a couple more years in the old noggin. So you know a little bit more. Talk about the run for a week with a representative Polis. Indeed, Congressman Jared Polis, I'm Garrett is enlightening, he is brilliant and he's a gentle soul. Um, he understands and he connects to the things that I think mattered to people. He understands and values education. He understands and values people. Jared will stop and talk to everybody, which to be honest with you is really difficult during the campaign when you're trying to get him to go in different places and get things done.

Speaker 5: Jared wants to spend 45 minutes with this guy that just really had this question that he really one to answer, but you know, that's beautiful, you know, I mean, we need more of that and to be honest with you, more campaign managers need to get out of the way of people that want to do that and let them spend that time. So, you know, Jerry, just like I said, I've known him since 2004. Um, I had the chance to know him, you know, as a friend and a colleague before, before the race, he wasn't my first campaign. I ran, I ran a lieutenant colonel Fawcett's campaign down, no Paso County in 2006 for Congress, a couple city council races, so it was just a real honor to be asked to be able to help jared, you know, when that seat. So by that time you had, you know, you knew what you were doing in that space.

Speaker 5: Besides listening, what else did he have? What else were, were the tickets, you know, to success there? I think he actually came up with real ideas. So when people talked about, you know, how are we going to fix, you know, different business issues or how are we going to fix different education gaps? Um, you know, Jerry just had really good ideas. Um, you know, the woman that he was running against, you know, at the time, felt like she was owed the position because she had put in her time. Um, but jared just really represents boulder and people know him. Washington, disabled or. But the gigantic piece of land that he's responsible. Exactly. I chased him down. I drove I think two hours. Oh No, no. I mean, it's, it's all up into the mountains and then mountain regions, but, you know, once again, folks knew jared because jared had been out there so often with chartered schools and with all different types of causes and organizations and um, you know, and then when jared did tech stars and, you know, trying to get, you know, new young people who had, you know, technological developments and he was going to help them fund them and I mean, it's just amazing what he does in the community.

Speaker 5: So when you see him elected as congressman, it's kind of like an iceberg. All of the work that he has done is under that ocean to up that one little top piece of being the congressmen. So we're excited for jared. So, so he gets in and then, uh, to talk about the conversation that you had with him. So also during that time I was also on Barack Obama's national finance committee, so I was one of the largest bundlers in Colorado for the president. Um, so we were able to raise quite a bit of money for him. Um, and so getting the work closely with him, getting to be in the room with him and hear him talk about conversations about cannabis and war and the different things. I'm going to stop you. You're talking about Barack Obama talking about cannabis. Yes. Let's get into that. Let's, let's talk about what we were talking about it as much as much as you can, share as much as you feel comfortable.

Speaker 5: Um, it has never been wasted on Barack Obama that black people go to jail for simple possession a. and what we're seeing right now coming out of the White House is mutations is, is his issue with nonviolent drug offenses quite frankly. Um, so that's not lost on him. Um, so he definitely clearly understood that. And this was long before all of these things were before 2000, eight or 2009 before all of these things came into place that, where were, we now stand in a big convention center in Los Angeles. Um, I think being the president of the United States, I've never been in that office. I don't know what happens after you're elected, but it seems like a lot of the things that you believe personally, you can't always push forward and there's probably a lot of reasons for that that you and I will probably never be privy to. Sure.

Speaker 5: Um, but the fact is he keeps doing things. I'm on the silent side that shows that he is moving toward ending this thing, you know, comments like I don't think marijuana is any more dangerous than alcohol. That's right. Those are the talking points. So you can get caught with a joint and go to jail or you can get caught with Violet Tequila and not go to jail. So I don't, you know, so we start to look at those things. So now he's let free, I believe 520 some odd people, something I'm the most of any president of all of them combined. I believe we're going to see a tremendous amount more after November eighth, after the election, after the election. I believe after the election, to be honest with you, that I believe Barack Obama is going to help us find a way of making this, getting the feds out of the way.

Speaker 5: Oh, I'm the only one that believes that. Nobody else believes that. But I would put money on it. What? What's been told to me is that it's not an executive decision. Right? So even if he wanted to do that, he couldn't necessarily do it. And we know that there's a long list of things as you just referenced, that he, that he, uh, is, is having trouble and has, had trouble doing as president. But what, what are you thinking? I know that you're, you're, I'm looking at you and you're telling me that you're not going to tell me with your eyes, but what are you going to tell him? I honestly believe in my heart and soul that we will see a path after this election for the federal government to get out of our way and the path has to be made because. And the reason why we'll see it after this election is will potentially have nine states, including the one we're sitting in right now that will offer, um, legal cannabis, which will be at that point, most of the adults in America will then have access to legal cannabis.

Speaker 5: But the bigger issue that we're going to have is that $5, billion dollars that could possibly be made here in this state. What are we going to do with that? We're going to put that in mattresses like we do in Colorado. I don't think so. So it becomes no longer responsible for a sitting president not to handle this situation in, in, in some kind of a big way. Also, I'll just nudge you. So are we talking about dea scheduling? I mean, are we talking at least about rescheduling? Because we just had a big piece of news on the fact that we're not rescheduling it, but you can start to research it. That just happened. Now it's kind of funny that the dea says that it is not dangerous. That was part of the thing. And then they said it does not medicine. Right? So if it is not medicine and it is not dangerous, why is it scheduled?

Speaker 5: So I think that some of those talking points will allow the White House and Congress to sit down and say, what are we doing here and why do we own these patents? You know, why do we own these patents about cannabis as medicine? But Hey, they don't want to make it medicine. They don't want to make it dangerous. They take it off the schedule by all means, feel free to do so. I'm perfectly fine with that. That would be a great thing. All right, so that's him and, and you know it, it's been said on this show many times that him, you know, kind of tipping his cap, you know, with his statements. And then Eric holder with his statements and then ultimately the Ogden memo, coal memos. Yeah. That's how we have this industry. Exactly. It's because of its administration. Exactly. So you're, you're saying there might be an I dotted or a t crossed here at the end?

Speaker 5: I would bet big money on it. Okay. All right. Well, I'd like to, um, I would like to know who you are. Uh, I'll, I'll, I'll bet with you is my point. Who's taken the vague. He's taken it down. I mean, it just makes sense after a while because it just, and like I said, I think after November it's going to be very clear to America and anybody elected in America that cannabis is here to stay, you know, we'll have nine states doing this in California being the crown jewel. So, so getting back on point you, you basically told Congressman Polis, hey, you know, I'm going to this. Yeah. So what, what, talk about that conversation at some point during the campaign you asked me, you know, what I was going to do after the campaign and the Washington stay here, what were you going to do?

Speaker 5: And I said, you know, when I'm no longer attached to a, uh, a politician or a client or yeah, or I'm not working for an organization that would have some issues with this, which I had no plans to do is I'm gonna take on legalization full time. And he was like, well, this is, what do you think would be legal and look five years, six years, 10 years. And I know jared, I said this will be legal in less than two years. I had absolutely no doubt at that point that we were going to see illegal as well. Medicinal marijuana happened. And then he'd asked, well, when do you think you're going to see full legalization happening? And I says, I think we'll see full legalization will happening, you know, in less than five years. He was like, you don't think it's gonna be like 10 or 20 years?

Speaker 5: And I says, no, it's going to go by very fast. And why did I know that tea leaves? Were you reading? Um, they were green leaves, but it was in actually, you know, it was, it's because of the people that, you know, I get elevated with, you know, they are congressmen, they are elected officials, they are a city elected officials, they are ceos of major corporations, they're lawyers, they're doctors, they're actors, they're there, everybody. And so when you see people with that kind of money, you know, spending the kind of money and getting high as often as they did, then you know that this is going to be something that is, is coming very soon. Money influence and the ability to get what you want when you want to get it. I mean, the hardest thing about, you know, before, you know, 2008, you know, you had to wait for it, you know, dough, dough to get off work and come by with whatever bag he got. And you know, that's not going to be until 1130 at night. I mean, what grownup has time for that know I want to go to a dispensary. I want to see a bunch of different strains and maybe some edibles and a drink or two or maybe some money or maybe some infuse sugar to put in my, you know, cereal in the morning or something. I mean, why can't I do that as an adult? And Lo and behold, we now can. Now we can,

Speaker 4: let's talk about the fact that if I were to get a, uh, if I were to try to attain a dispensary license in whatever state now, it would be a specific thing. Right. Let's talk about your journey. Two thousand and nine. That's a different time. Oh my goodness. Yeah. So we've heard about 2009 from your perspective, talk about what's on the ground in 2009. What are you looking at as a, as a would be business owner? Actually, it was funded in 2009.

Speaker 5: There were no licenses. There were no tax codes, there was no. Um, we all had to be wellness centers before 12, $84 before 1284. So there was, I mean, there was nothing. I mean, you went and you got a retail license and a sales tax license and Wallah, you're in the cannabis business. Congratulations. Didn't just spend millions of dollars. You didn't, I, I, I, man, it was less than $100,000 to open up a dispensary. Back in the day, people would show up daily with bags of cannabis and you're like, what do you think about this? You know, what do you think about that? We would either buy it or not buy it. They would show up with edibles. We would taste them right there at the counter and be like, oh, these are good. Yeah, we'll take those. Those are fabulous. How strong are they? Really strong. Oh, great.

Speaker 5: Mean. This was. These were the conversations that were happening. We did have a grill. Facilities and grow facilities were dicey back then because basically the only thing that saved you was the sign that said that is a legal marijuana dispensary because you let the state know that you were growing, but there was still no classification for that growing cops didn't know what it was. I'm Adams County actually rated, rated one of our farms one night, which was terrifying. Um, and you know, and you, you go through this because the police claim, but they didn't know what was real and you know, we knew what was, what

Speaker 4: it has been said and I believe it to be true that yes, back in the day there were raids and there were, you know, we were all trying to Kinda figure out what was happening, what was legal, where was everything. I think along the way it's been told to me, I would love your opinion that regulators and government officials have been on board with this industry. Yes, of course there's push and pull. Yes, of course there's silly things that come out as far as regulations are concerned. But if you compare Colorado to Washington state, for instance, or California for the most part, there's been a synergy there. How true isn't it?

Speaker 5: Um, well, first off, every politician has only one goal. Every politician has the luckily one goal. That's it. They have no other goals except for that one. I don't care how good they are, how bad they are, whatever else. They all have one goal. I think in Colorado it was pretty clear to folks that this is what Colorado ones wanting to do, so they were onboard with keeping their jobs. After that it was all pulling teeth. It was a difficult process. Um, people like to talk now, you know, when I run the friends in California and, or even from other countries and people think it was all Kumbaya in Colorado that we all just, you know, grab the joint and held hands and, you know, saw sam down the golden path. But it wasn't that way. I mean, there was on and on and on and on.

Speaker 5: Battles. I mean, all three governors came out against amendment 64 beforehand. And so in our past path, while three past governors came out against it, um, the current mayor of Denver still isn't in complete favor of it. I mean, Denver art dispense, we have to close at 7:00 at night. Why 7:00 at night? What number is that? Who Closes at 7:00 at night? I, I mean the liquor store who occupies a space next to us as open till, you know, midnight, three bars across the street from us, including our restaurant. It doesn't close until 2:00 AM. So what does 7:00 mean? But you know, the mayor of Denver likes, know, City Council likes that for whatever stupid reason, you know, and then you see edgewater open until midnight, use the Glendale open till midnight. So you know, these are battles and we found out that edgewater does 38 percent of their sales between seven and 10:00 PM, you know, no coincidence, which is no coincidence.

Speaker 5: So the city of Denver is handing over a tax revenue to, you know, it's surrounding cities and the city council in Denver is not standing up for the people who are funding them and paying their salaries. You know, edgewater city council's taken care of their business owners, Glendale city council's taken care of their business owners. When is Denver City Council going to take care of their business owners? Because right now I'm kind of fed up. Well, what about, you know, other locations and things like this and growing outside of the state and all of that. Let's do it.

Speaker 5: Are you looking into that or. I mean [inaudible] us and you mentioned your restaurant, so you do a lot of different things, right? So talk about the restaurant a little bit just so we kind of get a sense of what your day might be. Right. Um, my facebook page and my twitter page says a pot politics in restaurants. In a nutshell, that's what I do. So yeah, I'm determined to drive myself crazy before, on 60, but that's okay. I love you. I love restaurants. My husband loved restaurants, he's an amazing chef. My husband's also a cannabis chef and so what we do is food. So the first simply pure, which was an edible company, we did that out of the fact that, you know, we were chefs and when I looked around the industry back in 2009, it wasn't the pot that was going to kill you.

Speaker 5: It was the poorly prepared food that was made in people's kitchens with their cats and their dogs. And you know, not the right amount of cleanliness, not the right amount of food prep, not the right amount of storage and those things. So what was going to kill you in 2000 and not kill you below was going to make you stick in 2009 wasn't the cannabis. It was the. What else was in there? It was the food that was being made around it. So when we wanted to do the edible simply here as an edible company, you know, we were the first ones to have a commercial kitchen. We were the first ones to hire all chefs. We had a 10,000 square foot grow. We cooked with real but not with trim because we found with bud back in 2009. That was the only way we could get real consistency instead of putting a bunch of trim together, hoping it was the same all the time, which it's not.

Speaker 5: Got It. So interesting that you were using bud back then because yeah, much more expensive than it is now. But we were all about quality though. I mean, you know, we used, you know, Belgium, Coco and like I said, we hired a whole team of chefs and I do it to Johnson and Wales went, when did you go to a, to retail? When did those paths cross? So we ended up closing simply pure at the end of 2012 because anybody that made it through the medical marijuana years will tell you medical marijuana is not a sustainable business model. There's not enough patients, there's not enough patients for the number of businesses that were. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, anybody that was anybody that had a medical marijuana business in Colorado was losing money. Right? Everybody. Everybody. So you, instead of losing money, you stopped, you decided to stop losing weight.

Speaker 5: We decided to stop blooming. Yeah, we figured out how do you make a million in the middle in the marijuana business? Start with 2 million. But that was so good. Let's take that tangent right. Because, um, you know, now I see, you know, there's, there's television cameras here and there and you know, there's a whole bunch of new people paying attention. Obviously that helps pull figure. So that's great. Talk about how easy it is in cannabis because there's a perception that, oh, well this is an easy to get into. Yeah, it's so funny. I get so many phone calls a day that's like, you know, me and my mom, we make this pineapple upside down cake and we found this terrific spot and we're gonna make this upside down cake and we're going to use it. We're going to sell it to everybody that's going to be great.

Speaker 5: I'm like, wow. No, it's not gonna work that way for you. This is a hell of ics. Expensive, difficult industry to navigate. Not Impossible. You have just got to decide with all that you've got inside of you that you're going to make this thing work. You have got to call every contact you have. You've got to build a team because one person can't do it. One person, no matter how talented you are, no matter how well you know the rules, we even helped write some of the rules and I can't do compliance. I have to hire a team of compliance people to make sure that I keep my license because I can't keep up with every change. So on top of the attorney that looks at all of our compliance, I've got a compliance person over our grow, over our medical grow over the dispensary because everyday there are rules that are changing and that's just compliance.

Speaker 5: That's before we'd even put a product on the shelf. I mean, so then on top of that then you've got to have buyers now because you've got so many different products out there, which is amazing, but now you've got to decide how many different gummies are you going to carry? How many different chocolates are you going to carry? You know, so you gotta have somebody that you know, understands what's out there and is testing all of those things. Because I was an owner, I would love to test all of our edibles everyday, but it doesn't work. It doesn't work for me, but um, you know, but you've got to be able to stay on top of all the new things that are coming out, so you need a team of people to help you get through this. So it's amazingly difficult and it's amazingly difficult to get the right team together because human nature, you know, some people are going to come in and they're not going to get along and you know, you're gonna separate and hopefully you can separate pleasantly.

Speaker 5: But that's usually not the case. I mean, it's a really difficult industry to be in. But I got to say though, and I want to stop everybody when I want to stop me when I say that because I don't want folks to hear me say that this is negative because I love every minute of it. Every minute of it. You're just establishing because I've asked you to the fact that it's not easy. That's it. Easy as not even a word that would even. There's nothing. It's easy to roll a joint at the end of the night and smoke and it's easy for me to get cannabis except for California, which I can't get cannabis because I don't have a card. Right. Go figure how to get prop. Sixty four passed. So I'm talking about what, what if, if, if I can take that tangent now. What are your thoughts on prop 64 being the political person than I am?

Speaker 5: I do realize that there has never been a law in American history that has been passed. That was perfect on the day that it was passed in 2016. We're still dealing with issues that have evolved from slavery days and slavery was over in 18, 65. So we're still dealing with prison systems. I own restaurant rights and voting rights and the whole nine yards. I own a restaurant. My liquor laws change everyday or not everyday. I'm sorry. Every year they change on how we have to store it, where it has to be stored, where we can buy or from, you know, so those things are always changing. So I feel the same way about prop 64 here in California. I firmly believe that it's time for us to get everything out there on the tracks and running. Not always a good thing to fix something once it's on the tracks.

Speaker 5: Yeah. But at least once it's on the tracks and the vote has been said and people see where it's at, politicians will change and that's the holdup right now. Once they know that their job may be on the line that they continue to go against, this will start to see change. So, so I'm with you. Uh, you know, uh, I absolutely am with you. However, there is that issue with the fact that it's not perfect and it gets passed and they could go kind of sideways there. Yeah. With your history and politics, can you share with us how, how much and what needs to be done immediately after prop 64 pastors because that's where the rubber hits the road as far as the rules. Right? So talk about that. It's the rules. Um, a lot of the things that we have problems with in Colorado isn't the fact that we passed amendment 64, it's how the rules were interpreted as we went through that.

Speaker 5: So a lot of the ridiculousness that we have to do for, uh, uh, staying in business, um, it's, it's an overreaching of the rules which is the issue. So what's really important and people think it's a vote that matters, but you know, what we need all the organizations and the groups and the Naacp and the aces and the patient organizations and all of these organizations to make sure that they are seated at the table when those rules are being written. Because if you're not at the table, you're what's for dinner. So you've got, you've got to be there and you can't let up and it can't be this momentary. Yes. Celebrate on November eighth, you know, jump up and down and have a good time. Why did joint and then Monday morning get to work while I'm more speaking to the folks that aren't going to be celebrating on November eighth and when it does get passed, do you see what I'm saying?

Speaker 5: Because I think that there, there, there are kind of two tracks here in the industry. Exactly. Yep. And so, you know, um, legalization. Yep. You know, some folks are going to lose money and not get to do this anymore. Sure. Yeah. Uh, not if they're smart though. Not Smart, not this smart, not they've been doing it the right way. And I think that's the big thing, right? You know, at some point, and I know we all want to free the weed and you know, politicians suck and everything else, but at some point, if you want to be a businessperson, yeah, you've got to come to the table as a businessperson. Um, and that means voicing what you want to see happen. Because at the end of the day, we keep forgetting the politicians work for us and people get enamored by a politician because they're on TV. So therefore they're famous.

Speaker 5: But you know, what, they're my employee and the problem with my employees are, is they only hear from the people who are upset about cannabis becoming illegal. They don't hear from the people who have been growing it for 35 years that have seen it work miracles in households where alcohol was a problem where, you know, cannabis won't have those same issues or as a medicine, you know, definitely. So, um, those folks have definitely got to be at that table because the politicians that make these rules don't really understand it and they don't understand how it should work. And so we've got to show them. Yeah, I like to make the analogy, if you, if you appreciate the fact that there are rules associated with your car, you know, you should appreciate the fact that there should be rules associated with your cannabis, whether you're selling it or buying it.

Speaker 5: Yeah. And then you know, and there is, if you're buying it. Yeah, quite frankly. And there is home in there. So we're not talking about that. But we're talking about if you want to be a business person. Exactly. Alright. So we're, we're 100 percent on this. Yeah, exactly. No, and I think as an individual, if you want to grow plants and smoke your own, go for it. Go for it. Yeah. It's not easy by the way. You know what people think it is, you know, but it's not a standalone piece. Implants, I'm like, ehh, probably not. And if you do, they're probably not going to be female and they're probably not going to be cured. Right. And they're probably not gonna be all that potent, but hey, go for it. How much do you love the fact that this is all about the female plant by the. Otherwise, whenever that settles into a conversation. So about the women in this industry, it really is the girls. I mean, we got potent going on. I mean, we're just, it's all about the girls. I mean, you know, we're pretty, we smell good. It's fabulous. You mean women in general? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, do me a cannabis industry.

Speaker 5: Definitely the cannabis women, uh, I'm, I'm absolutely a proponent of the fact that women are smarter. I'm aware of that. Yeah. I see your mom raised you right? Yeah, it is. It is, uh, due to her that I, that I, uh, that I'm aware of this anyway, where does more patient? Yes, yes. You are more patient. Um, and so, you know, here we are, we're making our way into this next phase, right. With, with all of these votes coming up in November, you know, Colorado is Colorado, you know, you mentioned the fact that you think that federally there's going to be a change know before we get into even 2017 are. Right, right, right. Around then I had to. Are you surprised that this is where we are not at all. You said that you saw legalization two years, five years down the road. Is this what you envisioned?

Speaker 5: I mean, are we slower or faster? Are we, are we not as, as good as we could be, you know, is it, is it lining up the right way? You know, I'm sure it's probably lining up the right way. I mean, it's definitely a process and you can see the process being a dispensary owner with all the new companies coming in and you know, what it takes to be able to put a product on the shelf, you know, testing and making sure it's safe for people. So I'm not surprised at where the industry is. What I'm most surprised at, to be honest with you is how many people are negative toward cannabis because that I didn't get that I didn't see coming and some of the ridiculous conversation they have even with some of my friends and colleagues. Um, you know, and know it makes you not smart and you know, and you'll lose your brand sales.

Speaker 5: And people were always surprised when I chime up at this point nicely. I get high every single day, every single day I smoked a joint or have an edible or elevate, you know, and it's a different thing because everybody wants to compare that to being, you know, well, I wouldn't have, you know, vodka every day. And I'm like, well, no, because vodka is not cannabis. It's a whole different thing. It's a very different thing. Um, and I always like doing speeches when I know I'm talking to people who are going to be negative and after the fact I tell them that before I did this speech, I just smoked a joint. So you guys have been having this wonderful conversation with a stone person and you know what I mean, right? Yeah, exactly. Then it's like this, oh my goodness, you know, I mean, so it's, it, it doesn't make you stupid.

Speaker 5: It doesn't make you crazy. It doesn't, you know, it's the frame of mind of which you and I liked the word elevate so much better than high because I think when people say the word hi, you know, my, my mother in law to asked him one time why y'all got to be. Hi. Oh, hi here. Hi there, y'all. Hi. And I'm like in her mind high is obviously seeing different colors and shapes and having mine trips and you know, and that's not it, I'm just elevated. As a matter of fact, I'm more focused on you after a joint than what you're saying and what you're meaning and what you're feeling. Then I washed before, without question, we, we, you know, we say regulate a cannabis, like alcohol, alcohol, but that's where it ends. In other words, I grade different things are good. These are not competitive product at all at all, right?

Speaker 5: At all? Exactly. Not even. Well, yeah, they're competitive because quite frankly I would rather go out with my friends and smoke a joint before we go out, go dance, go have some great food, smoke another joint, but dance some more, have some more food or whatever it is that we're going to do. Um, so I think in those terms because my husband and I hardly ever drink and we were laughing because last night we'd gone out because we can't find any lead. Um, we went out to a couple bars and drank and I woke up this morning with a little bit of a head. Then I was like, this isn't fun. I don't want to do this anymore, you know? Um, so it's interesting. Yeah. I think that they are competitive in that stance and I think that alcohol is well aware of the fact that the more people who enjoy to recreate with cannabis, the less that they're going to drink, which is a good thing.

Speaker 5: Interesting. I don't know if this is the first time that we're disagreeing. Well, you know, and, and, and to be honest with you, quite frankly, I mean beer sales have never dropped. Right? So. Exactly. So do I think that, you know, it's going to become legal in California and bureaus got. No, I don't think that, but I do think though, as the years go on at when you're 21 and you decide what you enjoy more, I think when it's legal you'll see more people obviously choosing that, you know, I enjoy cannabis more than I enjoy being. Right. If you want to have the what would. My point is, is I think that that's a faulty conversation. I think that that's not even a conversation. I know what I mean. Like do, do you like to do like to drink or do you like elephants? Exactly. It's like different. I, I don't and I don't and I, and I, I definitely hear where you're going. I agree with you entirely. Um, uh, well it affects sales. I don't know what more people choose cannabis. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Don't worry about it. But then again, you're selling cannabis. So I also sell alcohol to. We have a whiskey bar. I've got 32 whiskeys on the other corner. So.

Speaker 4: So then how, how do you frame this in your mind? I mean, do you even care?

Speaker 5: You know what? I believe that anybody over the age of 21, if you're doing something that has nothing to do with me, it doesn't affect me in any kind of way. Then by all means you should be able to move right along with it. And

Speaker 4: purple, purple. Final questions. We kind of brushed along the word surprised. So you might have kind of answered these, some of these. I'll tell you what they are and then I'll ask you them in order. What has most surprised you in cannabis? What has most surprised you in life? Which I cannot wait for a and on the soundtrack of one of James's life. What is one track, one song that's got to be on there? Another thing that I can't wait for it, but what's most surprised you in cannabis?

Speaker 5: What has most surprised me in cannabis? What has most surprised me in cannabis?

Speaker 5: Um, you know, what? And what surprised me most, and, and this isn't the answer that you're really looking for, but what surprised me most in cannabis is when I met my brother and found out that my brother went to jail for four and a half ounces of pot for 10 years. That was shocking to me. This was a number of years ago that, you know, I found this out, but it was shocking to me because in my world, nobody went to jail for cannabis. We sat on the steps of Liberty Hall and smoke joints and cops will walk by and see upd put that, put that away kid. You know what I mean? Don't be doing that out here. As a grown up, all my friends were lawyers and doctors that were getting high. So it was never an issue for any of us. So what was surprising wasn't that my brother got busted and went to jail for it, but that it happens 800,000 times a year.

Speaker 5: Right. That's shocking. And so it wasn't until I got involved that I saw that this was of the biggest issue. So I think that was my biggest shock, but I'm not shocked by where the industry is or I'm not shocked by the products. Um, I think I'm probably most shocked at the medicinal values that we're, we're seeing things like ms were saying, cannabis, ms, cannabis, Parkinson's, cannabis, epilepsy. That's what shocking, you know. Exactly. You know, and instead of, you know, hearing people, you know, cannabis. Cheetos, Huh? Well come on, you know, there's so much more to it than that. Right.

Speaker 4: There really is. And you said, you know, it's not the answer I'm looking for. I just want to be clear. I am absolutely looking for the answer that you tell them that whatever it is, whatever it is. And that's a good answer. Right now I'm moving onto what has most surprised you in life now as a mid twenties? You know, wanting to James,

Speaker 5: I was most surprised me in life. What's most surprised me in life is how fast life actually goes. And you hear that all the time. You've heard it as a child, you've heard it hurt, it hurt, it hurt it, but there comes a point in your life where it starts to just saying by. And it's hard to believe. When I look back on the history of things that I've done, that I have a history of things that I've done and it's happened so fast. I mean, I was a 17, 18 year old sitting on the steps of city hall smoking a joint two weeks ago, and now I'm a 50 year old woman that owns a dispensary and it happened in a two week period that's enjoy your life. I mean that. That's what's the most surprising thing is how fast this happens. How do you, uh, let me, let me ask you that question.

Speaker 5: How do you enjoy your life? In other words, that sounds like you are focused on that. It sounds like that is like in any good relationship, you got to focus on the communication. You've got to focus on the relationship. You actually have to work on it. No matter how good both of you are, no matter how perfect the whole thing is, you actually have to work on it. So how do you work on enjoying your life? I have a philosophy of my life that I've lived by forever and I think it came from my father. I'm pretty sure it probably did, but I have lived my life with no regrets and I've enjoyed every minute. I enjoyed my twenties. I enjoyed my teens. I enjoyed my thirties. I enjoyed my forties. And then people ask me now, you know, you go back to 20. No I wouldn't because I enjoyed my twenties. And so when I see 20 year olds having a good time and doing what 20 year olds do, I smile because inside I remember that. That was a time that I had back then. But I loved it. So I didn't feel like I missed anything from it. Um, and it's kind of how I feel about this too, you know, and I keep laughing, I'm like, when I'm an 85 year old woman and there's a bunch of young kids are going to be like, if she tells the story how they legalized marijuana one more time,

Speaker 4: you know, going to be like we couldn't just have, you know, marijuana is 70 it and you know, we had to fight for it, you know. Um, so I, I mean I'm going to love being 85 and telling that story 100 times, you know, and making kids listening because they have to because I'm 85, you know, I love that, that'd be great. Then we'll make them smoke their weed with me. So it's gonna be fantastic. I love how it's purposeful. I purposely going to reengage the same people multiple times. Exactly the same story on purpose to get there. We'd. All right. Well I can't wait for that either. I'll, I'll, I'll be, uh, I'll be there, uh, as far as the soundtrack of wanted James' life one track one song that's got to be on there. Oh Lord. And, and, uh, now I just realized mentioning Wanda James and Music and the same question I have to ask you a, any relationship to Rick James Wanted Games bitch and that would be the only relationship actually my brother's name is.

Speaker 5: Well it's dark, but we call him rick and so he is Rick James. And so how I'm related to that Rick James, but no, I'm not related to the former musical star named Rick James, but I am trying to find out how I am related to a certain basketball star and uh, you know, last name. So I thought you were talking about Larry Bird Le. Lebron James talking about there. We keep trying to figure out how we're all related, but we haven't figured out that yet either. I got, we're working on it. So anyway, what's on the soundtrack? What would have to be there? See, the problem with that is, is because I don't have a singular musical tastes because I grew up in so many different places. I mean I'm a punk or from the eighties. So. Wow. What do you got in there? Oh Man, the cure depeche mode. I mean, we can, cure was probably my all time favorite before they became popular.

Speaker 5: Sure. So more so you were into that. Oh my goodness. Smith, are you kidding me? All the time. Oh Man. Forgive me for saying Marcy and not the smiths. I hooked you up. Helps you out a little bit. Alright, so there was that. What else? You got to give us to the pockets and then, you know, there's, you know, and then there's, you know, all of my rnb upbringing, you know, so, you know, my dad in jazz when I was growing up as a kid and Nina Simone, that was always playing. And then little while Tucson and then, you know, Marvin Gaye and I mean I'm also the oldest and then I'm also a rocker. You know, David Bowie is one of my all time favorites. The stones are probably my favorite band. My mom is from Liverpool, so I grew up with an appreciation of the Beatles for my entire life. There you go. So it's Liverpudlian. She is, she's a scouser notice. Scousers guy. Got to look it up. It's not a bad thing, it's just liverpudlian. But anyway, um, so, you know, it's hard to pick a song, you know, I mean, man, you can't always get what you want comes in mind, which is one of my favorites.

Speaker 5: I hate to be cliche, but you know, imagine is always been one of my favorites, you know, um, you know, man, Marvin Gaye, any of them, uh, let's get it off. Let's get it on, you know, man. And, you know, and then even to current music, I, I absolutely love Rihanna. She's just my girl inside and out and I just, I love her. So what one song because you like to work, work, work, work, work, work under my umbrella. Um, but it's, it's so many different musical things. I, I don't know that I could pick one. It would probably be, it would probably be something from the stones. I guess if I had to, it probably. How good is the exile on main street album wanted, wanted? My goodness, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? And I love that you said album too. I mean I still have albums. I don't know, I don't have a record player anymore, but I had albums so we'll give him some vinyl that's happening. I know, I know. So everything's going to be. All these kids have, you know, found this, you know, thing called vinyl and they're explaining how it works. We're going to have federally legal cannabis very soon says wanted. James. We are. Thank you so much for your time. This was a damn pleasure. I had a good time to death and there you have wanted James and of course a Joe Brezhnev earlier.

Speaker 2: Uh, thank both of them for their time. Joe's a unique guy doing a unique stuff in Nevada and won to James is wanted James to James a really appreciated talking to her and, uh, very much appreciated her time. Very much. Appreciate your time. Thanks so much for listening.

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